Lost halyard

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ColinS

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Due to a shoddy bit of whipping by some idiot (yours truly), my main halyard decided to part company with the sail and ended up in a tangled heap inside the mast. I managed to get the halyard out and thought that it would be a simple matter of sending a messenger down from the top, using a few nuts as weights and a galvanised shackle pin on the end for magnetic attraction (so that I could use one of those extendable magnets on a stick to grab the end through the exit slot). All went well until about 3 feet from the exit slot, when the messenger would not drop any further. No amount of rocking the boat (with me hanging on for dear life at the top of the mast) would make it drop any further. I intend to have another go with heavier weights but I thought that the combined wisdom of the forum might be able to come up with a solution (that does not involve cranes and riggers).
 
Maybe a strong magnet outside the mast, to drag the nuts down? Be sure not to scratch the anodizing. Maybe slide the magnet down on a thin piece of cardboard.
 
Tie a messenger line alongside an existing halyard and pull it through with that. Then use the messenger to pull the main halyard back through. You may need to fiddle a bit at each end to relocate the messenger through the correct blocks/holes first.
 
You could try using a lighter line e.g. thread with just the shackle pin on it and then pull down a meatier line to take the effort of pulling the halyard through. My guess is that 3 feet from the bottom there are other ropes and cables converging which are in the way. A few goes might be necessary with you leaning the way you want the mouse line to go.

Is there anyway of using other ropes in the mast - the jib halyard should be long enough if you using a bit of whipping twine to tie them together and tow the main up or down the mast.

Why did your duff whipping make the halyard come off - surely not just held on to the head of the sail with a whipping /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
 
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Is there anyway of using other ropes in the mast - the jib halyard should be long enough if you using a bit of whipping twine to tie them together and tow the main up or down the mast.

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That is exactly what I did, tho if the mast exit points are different it could be tricky.
 
The halyard was round a thimble, the whipping was holding the halyard tight around the thimble. It was one of things I spent a dark winters evening doing, without thinking of the tension involved.
I will bear all the suggestions in mind. I thought about tying a messenger to another halyard but it may be impossible to swap over between the sheaves at the top of the mast. I don't think I will have a problem at the bottom of the mast.
 
I have found the easiest way is often to use some stiff wire (e.g. 4mm, or larger, 7x7 to push from the bottom. This is neceesary on my old Proctor mast as the haliards exit to sheaves to the bottom of the mast, and so I can't use other halliards as pull-throughs.

Electricians mousing line (from B&Q) proved to be too flexible.

John
 
[ QUOTE ]
The halyard was round a thimble, the whipping was holding the halyard tight around the thimble.

[/ QUOTE ] If you use a sailmaker's needle to push the whipping twine through and through at the start and the end of the whipping, it won't happen again.
 
Assuming the halyard enters the mast obliquely at the lower end, I would try pushing a piece of line (with the shackle pin tied to it) up the track of the halyard. The ideal material would be the sort of stiff transparent tubing used to transport beer in pubs, but failing that, a length of steel fencing wire might do if the end was bent round in a tight loop, through which your line tied to the shackle pin passes.
 
Just a thought if the pin is caught at the point of convergence of the sheaves at the bottom of the mast then try easing all the halliards before dropping the pin. Then when the pin jams try pulling 10 feet of halliard(s) through from the base at the same time. I use a tie wrap in a loop through the sheave to capture the end of the halliard and lassoo it. If that does not work then tie the whipping twine on to the nearest halliard by dropping the line past the jib sheave at the top and attaching it to the halliard there, when it gets to the bottom pull it through the sheave and then cut it and thread it back using a tie wrap and a lasso tie wrap. You can then use the mousing line to pull the halliard through again, I have tried this successfully at least a couple of times (don't ask!)

Just my thoughts - good luck
 
Ian. It took me a couple of reads to understand your post, before I got the general idea. The cable tie loop is sheer genius - I won't have to worry about magnetic thingy's or pliers now.

Thanks a lot to everyone.
 
I had this problem on my GP14 years ago. (ok, much smaller mast but same principal). I used a long length of flex, which is bendy enough to dangle over the sheeve, but stiff enough to be pushed. it was a little easier for me as the mast was lying down, but it could be worth a shot.
 
I appreciate the difficulty in swapping sheaves at the masthead but might just work if you made a barb on a piece of 1/8th stiff-ish wire.
 
I have heard people recommend bicycle chain and that seems an eminently sensible suggestion, although I haven't tried it myself. That has the combination of weight, flexibility and a small cross section that should be ideal for re-threading halyards.
 
Bike chain works every time. A length about 10 inch long (25 cm) tied to a mouse line and a thin hook to retrieve it. A flashlight to see where the chain is, also helps.

If it's old chain, soak in solvent to clean or you'll make the other halyards dirty.

It's a job so simple even the wife loves doing it. She's not afraid of heights, by the way and weighs half of what I do.
 
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